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I'm not an educator but I'm a child of a set of Japanese expat parents who were here for several years for work. Their assignment (or my father's assignment, really) was up and they went back while I chose to stay in the States. In our situation, my parents were not at all involved in our public education. Probably a lot to do with the cultural and language barriers. They were, however, involved with the after-school and weekend academics that were more aligned with my homeland.
Interestingly, I excelled more in the arts and music because they saw my true passions and even allowed me to create my own path. That help complement areas in which they were involved, the STEM academics.
In IEP cases, I am not sure why it would be so difficult for the foreign-born parent to understand that they just have to show up for that meeting and sign some legal papers that MUST be signed.
Perhaps those cases are also related to the SES of the parents, in which case the "foreign-born" part may play less of a role than the fact that the parents are just in deep doo-doo, socio-economically speaking, so all in all, they just don't care.
I assume many American-born in that situation would act the same way. Am I wrong?
Speaking solely from my personal experience, it appeared to not be related to socioeconomics, but more culturally-related issues.
Also, our IEPs were not of the "show up and sign the papers" variety. We ran them as actual teams, requiring substantive input from all team members, including parents. This isn't necessarily typical (though it should be), but as a specialized school, our IEPs were quite a bit more thorough and intensive than the usual public school version.
Speaking solely from my personal experience, it appeared to not be related to socioeconomics, but more culturally-related issues.
Also, our IEPs were not of the "show up and sign the papers" variety. We ran them as actual teams, requiring substantive input from all team members, including parents. This isn't necessarily typical (though it should be), but as a specialized school, our IEPs were quite a bit more thorough and intensive than the usual public school version.
This is interesting...I don't know much about IEP-s and how much parental input would be necessary...but if cultural and NOT socio-economic issues are the problem, it might just be that parents don't understand what kind of input is required of them.
Either way, most parents don't have IEP-s to deal with, so I think these are pretty particular cases.
I was more interested in how teachers perceive foreign-born parents who don't have to deal with IEP-s.
No, not war propaganda. These children were refugees who left with practically nothing. They were from places like Georgia and the neighboring states. The principal explained to us not to expect much cooperation from the parents. They would view us as bureacrats, the authorities, an extension of the government. They did not trust us as that was their experience in the USSR, not to trust officials or any representatives of an institution. They also had a huge fear of the police. There you are, telling the little kids if you get lost or afraid that someone is going to harm you, to tell a nice police officer and the kids are looking at you like you are crazy. I remember one girl got caught stealing and they told her that they were going to call her parents (which they did) and that if she ever did anyting like that again, they would call the police. She practically had a heart attack. I enjoyed hearing their impressions of their new country. One of their great delights were American supermarkets. They had never seen so many different types of food and variety before. It was overwhelming to them just as I mistakenly overwhelmed them with too many choices and decisions at the beginning of the year.
I've also taught Russian children from the USSR. These children and parents were more educated and much more involved in their children's educaiton.
No, not war propaganda. These children were refugees who left with practically nothing. They were from places like Georgia and the neighboring states. The principal explained to us not to expect much cooperation from the parents. They would view us as bureacrats, the authorities, an extension of the government. They did not trust us as that was their experience in the USSR, not to trust officials or any representatives of an institution. They also had a huge fear of the police. There you are, telling the little kids if you get lost or afraid that someone is going to harm you, to tell a nice police officer and the kids are looking at you like you are crazy. I remember one girl got caught stealing and they told her that they were going to call her parents (which they did) and that if she ever did anyting like that again, they would call the police. She practically had a heart attack. I enjoyed hearing their impressions of their new country. One of their great delights were American supermarkets. They had never seen so many different types of food and variety before. It was overwhelming to them just as I mistakenly overwhelmed them with too many choices and decisions at the beginning of the year.
I've also taught Russian children from the USSR. These children and parents were more educated and much more involved in their children's educaiton.
Interesting...this could be a very unique population you are referring to.
As for Russian parents and their children...I am not from Russia but in my experience, Russian parents who arrive in the US are some of the most well educated parents you'll have (this does not necessarily mean they all have lots of degrees, though many have this too). I just know they value education quite a lot and the culture itself tends to value the intellectual side of life. The educational system they come from is also one where achievement, more so than innate ability, is emphasized. Which is really nice.
This is interesting...I don't know much about IEP-s and how much parental input would be necessary...but if cultural and NOT socio-economic issues are the problem, it might just be that parents don't understand what kind of input is required of them.
Either way, most parents don't have IEP-s to deal with, so I think these are pretty particular cases.
I was more interested in how teachers perceive foreign-born parents who don't have to deal with IEP-s.
Sorry, I took the question posed in the thread title at face value.
Foreign born parents will tend to trust that the school is a professional entity and is doing their job. That is why it appears they are less active in the education of the child
I'm not a teacher but I've worked with immigrants from Germany on occasion and they didn't seem at all different from Americans as far as education, probably better than most -- and they weren't afraid to talk with teachers and go to the school to work out issues.
As far as those from south of the border, some do well -- but their high drop out rate shows a lack of interest in education. Some might be polite -- or what looks like polite might really be lack of real interest.
One British guy was laughing about his daughter because she caught onto the fact that some words in American English are spelled differently but she could point out to a teacher that in England they spelled it her way -- and British English seems to trump American English even in the USA -- but she would do it with any word she mispelled. He was very educated himself and they were very involved with their kids' education.
I'm not a teacher but I've worked with immigrants from Germany on occasion and they didn't seem at all different from Americans as far as education, probably better than most -- and they weren't afraid to talk with teachers and go to the school to work out issues.
As far as those from south of the border, some do well -- but their high drop out rate shows a lack of interest in education. Some might be polite -- or what looks like polite might really be lack of real interest.
One British guy was laughing about his daughter because she caught onto the fact that some words in American English are spelled differently but she could point out to a teacher that in England they spelled it her way -- and British English seems to trump American English even in the USA -- but she would do it with any word she mispelled. He was very educated himself and they were very involved with their kids' education.
British Standard English is not preferred in the US. US schools teach American Standard English.
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